Placing them together makes sense because they share the same emotional foundation—passionate, asymmetrical devotion—but they construct entirely different narratives. One poem feels like a gift, while the other carries a slow-burning reproach, wrapped in tenderness. Together, they capture the full emotional spectrum of loving someone who might not love you back in the same way or at the same time.
These two works illustrate that love poetry isn’t a singular experience: Barrett Browning measures abundance, while Yeats measures loss.
The Reader's Atlas · Compare · Love Letters
When You Are OldHow Do I Love Thee
Two of the most quoted love poems in English do nearly opposite things. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" (1850) feels like a love letter written in the moment, counting devotion like coins—one by one, each one genuine.
Poets
W. B. Yeats / Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Years
1893
Chapter
Love Letters
§01 The thesis
When You Are Old & How Do I Love Thee
A reader's case for putting these two side by side — what each carries, and what they argue when they sit on the same page.
§02 The dialectic axes
The two poems on four axes
Each axis isolates one specific vector — speaker, form, image, closing move — and reads the two poems against each other on that single dimension.
Axis
Poem A
When You Are Old
W. B. Yeats
Poem B
How Do I Love Thee
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
01Speaker
Poem A · When You Are Old
Yeats's speaker is a man talking to a woman who isn't paying attention — at least, not in the way he hopes. He sees himself as the one who truly understands her, unlike the crowd that admires her beauty. His tone is intimate yet somewhat sorrowful, as he tries to present his feelings to an audience that won't be there until he's no longer around.
Poem B · How Do I Love Thee
Barrett Browning's speaker is completely present and clearly heard. There’s no worry about whether the love is reciprocated — the poem is a bold declaration, not a desperate plea. The speaker lists the ways as an expression of abundance, not as a point of contention.
02Form
Poem A · When You Are Old
Yeats employs three ABBA quatrains, a structure that mirrors the Petrarchan sonnet yet stops short of fully embracing it. This form feels enclosed and somewhat sorrowful, with each stanza folding in on itself, culminating in a final image that expands outward toward the stars.
Poem B · How Do I Love Thee
Barrett Browning composes a traditional Petrarchan sonnet: an octave that asks a question followed by a sestet that provides the answer, leading to the volta and concluding with a couplet. The structure mirrors the act of counting — neat, progressive, and whole.
03Central Image
Poem A · When You Are Old
The main image in Yeats is the fire — the old woman nodding next to the glowing bars as she takes down a book. This domestic scene feels sad because of what it lacks. Love has left the room and gone to hide among the stars, out of reach.
Poem B · How Do I Love Thee
Barrett Browning doesn’t have just one dominant image. Instead, she explores various dimensions—depth, breadth, height, sunlight, candlelight, breath, smiles, tears. Together, these elements create the image: love as a space that encompasses every aspect of life.
04Closing Move
Poem A · When You Are Old
Yeats concludes with love depicted as fleeing upward, as it "hid his face amid a crowd of stars." While the ending feels cosmic, it also feels elusive—love vanishes. The last sentiment is both beautiful and profoundly melancholic.
Poem B · How Do I Love Thee
Barrett Browning concludes with a promise that transcends death: "I shall but love thee better after death." This ending feels universal, yet it draws closer to the beloved instead of distancing itself. Love doesn’t retreat; it grows stronger.
§03 Synthesis & departure
The shared ground and the divergence
Shared
Both poems explore love as something that transcends ordinary human experience. Barrett Browning reaches for "the ends of Being and ideal Grace," while Yeats depicts love as fleeing to hide "amid a crowd of stars." This cosmic ambition reflects a shared instinct; neither poet wants to confine their feelings to the confines of a room.
Both poets also take sorrow into account. Barrett Browning openly weaves grief into her love, stating she loves "with the passion put to use / In my old griefs." Yeats centers his poem around a future sorrow that the beloved is yet unaware of. In both instances, pain is not the antithesis of love but rather an integral part of its fabric.
Formally, both poems are concise. Browning employs a Petrarchan sonnet — fourteen lines with a strict rhyme scheme. Yeats composes three compact quatrains with an ABBA rhyme pattern that nods to the sonnet tradition without adhering to it. Both poets draw from that tradition, using its structure to contain emotions that might otherwise overflow.
Where they diverge
The most significant difference is time. Barrett Browning's poem exists entirely in the present and envisions a future where love only deepens. Every verb is active and immediate: "I love thee freely," "I love thee purely." The poem builds on itself. In contrast, Yeats's poem looks back from an imagined future at a past that has already slipped away. The beloved is old, the fire is glowing, and the love has vanished. The poem takes away.
The speakers also find themselves in different emotional states. Barrett Browning's speaker is confident and feels her love is returned — she lists the ways because she has the security to do so. Yeats's speaker, on the other hand, is the one who loved genuinely while others loved insincerely, and he needs the beloved to recognize that, even if he won't be there to hear her acknowledge it. There’s a subtle sting in "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" that doesn’t appear in Browning's poem, which lacks rivalry, score-settling, or an elegy for what was lost.
§04 A reader's order of operations
Which to read first
If you arrived here from "How Do I Love Thee?" and are planning to read "When You Are Old" next, brace yourself for a shift in emotional tone. Yeats maintains a similar intensity of feeling but channels it through a sense of regret and distance. Conversely, if you began with Yeats and were drawn in by its subtle ache, Barrett Browning will feel like a window flung wide open — the same devotion illuminated in full sunlight, with the beloved present. Either path is valid; they enhance each other’s impact.
§05 Reader's questions
On When You Are Old vs How Do I Love Thee, frequently asked
Answer
Yes, often in high school and introductory college poetry courses. They go well together because they both explore the theme of deep love, showcasing how a poet's perspective can vary — looking at the present versus the future, or experiencing fullness versus loss.
Answer
Barrett Browning wrote her sonnet between 1845 and 1846, and it was published in 1850 as part of her collection *Sonnets from the Portuguese*. Yeats composed 'When You Are Old' in 1891, releasing it in 1893 in *The Rose*. This means Browning's poem came about forty-five years before Yeats's.
Answer
From Barrett Browning, it usually starts with: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." From Yeats, the line that gets quoted most often is "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" — this line serves as the emotional core of the entire poem.
Answer
Almost certainly yes. Yeats loved the Irish nationalist and actress Maud Gonne for decades, but she turned down his proposals time and again. 'When You Are Old' is often interpreted as being addressed to her, even though Yeats never explicitly named her in the poem.
Answer
Yes. The *Sonnets from the Portuguese* sequence was written for Robert Browning, whom she married in 1846. The title was a playful inside joke — Robert affectionately referred to her as his "little Portuguese" — and the sonnets were initially meant to be private until he convinced her to publish them.
Answer
The image reflects the Romantic and Symbolist view of love as an independent force rather than merely an emotion. By portraying love as a figure that deliberately hides its face, Yeats implies that the beloved pushed it away with her decisions — it's a subtle critique presented in the form of a striking image.
Answer
Barrett Browning's poem makes a bold statement. It concludes with the belief that love endures beyond death and even becomes more powerful. In contrast, Yeats's poem wraps up with love that has already faded, concealed among the stars — any hint of optimism lies in the hope that the beloved will come to realize what she has lost.
§06 More from this chapter
The vow, the catalogue, the reproach
7 comparisons in this chapter
George Gordon ByronvsWilliam Shakespeare
She Walks in BeautyagainstSonnet 18
Robert BurnsvsElizabeth Barrett Browning
A Red, Red RoseagainstHow Do I Love Thee
Christina RossettivsRobert Burns
A BirthdayagainstA Red, Red Rose
W. B. YeatsvsWilliam Shakespeare
When You Are OldagainstSonnet 73
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowvsElizabeth Barrett Browning
The Cross of SnowagainstHow Do I Love Thee
John KeatsvsChristina Rossetti